Long Run Success Theories. (Fast=Run x More?)

This weekend, I ran 18 miles.  I'd love to say that it was rainbows and ponies and glitter, but it was awful.  Not even two podcasts of This American Life, or Lemon-Lime Nuun could save me.  I've been subscribing to the fast-finish run method, and I ran the last few miles at marathon pace.  In my cool-down mile, I stumbled around my neighborhood, dreaming of Epsom Salts and hash browns, cursing myself for signing up for two marathons this year.  Yup, it sucked.   I took pictures to reflect my feelings before and after.  (They are not edited..at all..)

The thing is, if this is what I need to do to be prepared on race day, I'm willing to do it.  Or even more if need be. 

But there are a million different recommendations on long runs. The long run is the cornerstone of marathon training, there's no doubt about that.  And everyone has their own opinion on what the right way to do them is.  Overtraining, undertraining, too fast, too slow, too long, too short?   It's hard to tell what's the right thing to do!  Here's some various conflicting pieces of wisdom I've heard and the justifications behind them.

Frankly, I think you all have lost your minds, including you, Mr. McMillan.  (kidding, I love your calculator).

How to have the best long run ever (conflicted version)

Fuel a lot before and during Long Runs: If you don't give your body energy, how will it perform like you want it to?  Running without fuel causes too much stress on your body and running with it will train you to be able to stomach eating on race day.

Don't Fuel on Long Runs:  If you deny your body carbohydrates, your body will become better at burning fat and not burning through all carbohydrate stores.  This will help you perform even better when your body has access to fuel (race day).

Pace is unimportant.  Just get the miles in:  A long run is mostly so that you can train your body to run more efficienctly, and strengthen yourself both mentally and physically.  Trying to push the pace over three hours will just stress your body and expose it to injury.

Run Fast.  How will you run fast on race day if you don't in training? It's important to get miles under your legs at marathon pace or faster in a long run.  Running a long run at marathon pace shouldn't be a problem and will train you to run fast.  At least do some fast finish runs.


Don't run more than 20 miles during training: Running more than 20 miles in training exposes you to the risk of injury and breaking your body down too far.  18-20 milers should be enough.

Run 24+ miles in training:  I don't personally know anyone who does this.  But my friend Gisele says that some of the elites do it.  Like 30 mile training runs.  Run like an elite, become more elite?

I get that some of the recommendations are more for beginner marathoners and some for advanced, but I still think there's some overlap in schools of training thought.

So here's where you offer your opinion, por favor.  What sort of long run do you find is most important to your training?  Which do you think helps you improve your times?

Who knew something so pure could be so complicated!

(Also, I changed my blogger url to "www.fasterbunny.com".  The blogspot one is supposed to redirect but it's not.  Hopefully I'm still showing up in your reader if you follow?)

Eugene Update: Overtraining sucks and makes you slow.

Today, I went to the track for "track Tuesday" sans Sarah OUAL (but with our friend Rebecca!  Please feel free to come if you live in the OC area).

On the schedule was 4x1600m at goal 5k pace, with pretty short rest.  It didn't go so well.  I think my splits say it all:

6:31 (good), 6:32 (good), 6:43 (WTF), and 6:49 (And I was sprinting this one in). 

You know when you're 17 seconds off pace your last 1600m repeat, something is wrong.  Also, I was unable to complete the workout on Friday of 10 miles at marathon goal pace.

Why am I sucking so bad?

source

I can't give you the 100% sure answer, but unless my body physiology has changed in the past 7 days, I think I'm overtraining.  In retrospect, it kind of makes sense.  I've been extremely ambitious in my training lately.  Here's how I managed to kill my legs in the past four weeks:


1) Picked the hardest training plan I could find:  I picked a plan for "advanced competitive runners", that looks to peak out around 70 miles per week.  As much as I'd like to think that I'm an advanced competitive runner, I'm pretty sure an actual advanced competitive runner would strongly disagree with my ability assessment. 

2) Started at week 8 of a 20 week training program:  Hah!  Base building is for fools.  I'll just start at the hard part!  Weeks 1-8 are boorrinnggg!

3) 10% rule?  Also for fools.  I've been running around 30 miles per week for the last year.  So clearly a jump to 45-50 miles per week is no problem at all, right?

4) Traveled every other week, and piled workouts during the week on back-to-back days.  Rest days?  Also for fools!

5) Picked a plan that targets a goal pace 15 miles faster than your current PR.  Ok...so I don't think 3:20 is 100% out of reach, given this is my first serious attempt at training for a marathon, but it's a stretch goal.   The only time McMillan actually predicts me running under a 3:20 is when I type in a 5 mile or 5k race pace.

6) Tried to lose the lingering holiday weight:  I'm embarrassed to admit this one, but a few weeks back, I weighed myself and saw a number I haven't seen in a couple years.  I freaked out, and decided carrots were my best friend.  Don't worry, I'm not going all ED on y'all, but sometimes I cave to the same pressure of thinking that if I looked more like an elite, I'd run more like one.  While this could be true, I'm not sure a huge bump in mileage is the best time to try to drop 5 pounds.

So what's next?  How am I going to get my groove back?

I think the first step is to take my easy days either as cross training days or rest days.  I miss my bike anyways.  This fall, I was able to run decently running about 30 miles a week, and I bet I can still run a decent marathon averaging under 40 MPW.   If this doesn't help, I might need to take a few days off or back off the hard days on the training plan.    Also, I'll try to eat healthy but with enough calories.  I'm hoping if I do these things, my legs will come back on board.   Hard to say, bodies are weird.

Have you ever felt overtrained?  Am I just being a wimp?  How is the best way to build mileage/intensity?

Please share your advice!  I'd love to hear it. 

(* Edit Btw, I wrote an alternative post last night when I was feeling particularly sad and frustrated.  It's more personal than my usual writing, unedited, and I'm not making it a real post bc it's a bit of a downer but if you're interested: Semi-Unpublished Post )